Britain’s Adam Peaty narrowly missed breaking his own world record again as he won the men’s 50m breaststroke gold at the world championships yesterday to complete another sprint double.
Peaty, already a winner over 100m in Budapest, clocked 25.99 seconds over 50m, just 0.04sec short of his record time in Tuesday’s semi-finals, with Brazil’s Joao Gomes Junior taking silver, 0.53sec behind.
“I know I can do faster than that, maybe in a few years I can come back and actually do it, but for now I’m more than over the moon,” said Peaty.
The 22-year-old Peaty has been in stunning form this week. He narrowly failed to beat his own 100m world record of 57.13sec from last year’s Olympic final in Rio, but still won gold on Monday with a championship record of 57.47sec.
Over the shorter distance, Peaty roared out of the blocks in Tuesday morning’s heats to clock 26.10sec and smash his own world record.
He then became the first swimmer to go under the 26-second mark when he clocked 25.95sec in the semi-finals.
But Peaty says the knowledge that he is inspiring a rival to his title as the world’s best male breaststroker will push him harder in training.
“Being a champion — an Olympic champion, a world champion — and getting the wins makes people think you are unbeatable,” said Peaty.
“But there is probably a kid like that saying ‘I can beat Adam Peaty’ and I hope there is, as that’s a good challenge for me.
“It takes a special type of person to think that, and that’s where I made that step, to say ‘yes, I can take on the rest of the world’. Everyone’s beatable, it’s just when and where.”
Adam Peaty
